Comments

What an embarrassment. Many sarcastic thanks to that dipshit for making the Tea Party look intelligent.

And those senators should all be fired. Regardless of whether one thinks the issue at hand is right or wrong, they were elected to do a job: to debate and vote on laws, not to take a personal (paid) vacation so they can tie up the system. That’s worse than a filibuster. The need to get their asses back to work and do the job they’re being paid to do. There are plenty of other things they are supposed to be doing in addition to voting on the union issue, and hanging out at car shows isn’t one of them. By them “making a point, ” nothing is getting done. What they’re doing is exactly what so many people say is wrong with unions: they know they can get away with skirting their jobs and they’re abusing that privilege. Granted, they aren’t in a union, but their jobs are just as secure – it will take a lot of litigation to get one of them fired. Anyone in a non-union (or non-political) job pulling that crap would be on his ass by day 2.

yeah… forget the fact that the Governor used anti-democratic tactics to bring this “bill” to a vote, that he ginned-up a fake fiscal out of whole cloth to do so, and that he is still to this day lying about what is in the bill itself. forget all that; it’s all the fault of the Dems for using the last remaining LEGAL means for them to keep this farce from being crammed down the throat of people who have been lied to by the Governor. Not to mention that the Governor is attempting by this “bill” to *steal* the pension money legally owed to the State’s workers and give it to his rich, mostly out of state contributors, as Christie has done in New Jersey.

Go F yourself Mike K. If the shoe was on the other foot, for example if the GOP had used a similar tactic to prevent a vote on health care reform, you and the rest of the conservatives would be cheering.

Oh and if you believe that unionized workers are treated better than non-union workers, there’s a simple solution for that: MORE UNIONS. Unions are simply workers putting their leverage together to present a stronger negotiating position against their employer, who after all holds all the cards. 1 worker against 1 employer can not be considered a fair fight without much hilarity ensuing. So by bashing unions, what you’re saying is that employers should be allowed to do whatever they want to their employees, and that the employees, which constitute the vast majority of the American people, can just go to hell.

Those workers have conditions because they NEGOTIATED them; it wasn’t given to them on a platter. And the employer, in this case the government, SIGNED A CONTRACT guaranteeing these conditions. So what you’re saying is, in effect, that the Government’s signature on a CONTRACT doesn’t mean squat. I wonder if all those military contractors agree with you on that one.

But of course not; if it’s a corporation that’s the other party, then the contract should of course stand. But if it’s simply an American taxpayer, tough, right?

Wow, you sure read a lot of words that I never typed. Of course the state should back its contract with unionized workers. That’s what a contract is for.

The crux of my post is that these people are elected to make decisions in office. Their job is to debate with opponents and vote on issues. By disappearing they’re are only delaying the process. And by doing this, nothing else on their tables is getting done either. They’re skipping work and getting paid for it (ironically, with taxpayer dollars).

And for the record, I’m not a conservative (far from it), I’m quite left of center. I’ve voted for a lot more Democrats and Liberal issues than for Republicans and Conservative issues.

Yes, I would say the same thing if these were GOP senators. In fact, I have: I criticized the GOP for stagnating in Congress for the 2009 – 2010 session and getting little accomplished, only in an attempt to keep Health Care Reform from passing. Same thing: they were elected to do a job, and they intentionally dragged their feet. I also criticized them for using that tactic to log jam the system, then using that for credibility when they asked “where’s the change?” after two years of little Congressional activity. I totally called them out on that.

You missed my point about the treatment of unionized workers (I never criticized them or unions – go back and read it). I was stressing that their behavior is tacitly adding fuel to the critics’ fire. That’s why I wrote “what so many people say is wrong with unions” rather than simply, “what’s wrong with unions). The opponents to this issue can say “here is a prime example of why unions are wrong – the lawmakers are pulling this and getting away with it, so that must be what they want unionized workers to do.” I’m not saying I agree with the statement – I’m saying that it enables the claim to exist.

Think back to last month when all of the New York snowplow operators were intentionally raising their plows above road levels and working slowly to protest budget cuts. They were hired to do a job, and out of protest, they did it half-assed or not at all, and people were screaming for them to be fired. These lawmakers should be held to the same accountability.